Couple wanted in brutal murder arrested in California

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - A couple suspected in a brutal murder and sought for questioning in the disappearances of two other people were arrested in California on Wednesday driving the car of a missing Oregon man, police said.

David Joseph Pedersen, 31, and Holly Ann Grigsby, 24, were taken into custody on Wednesday in California near Yuba City, about 45 miles north of Sacramento, following a multi-state manhunt, Oregon State Police said.

The couple is suspected in the stabbing death of Pedersen's 69-year-old stepmother, Leslie Pedersen, in Washington state on September 29.

Calling the murder especially brutal, Everett Police Sergeant Robert Goetz said the woman's hands were bound with duct tape and a pillow was soaked with blood.

Pedersen's 56-year-old father, David Jones Pederson, has been missing since September 26.

"We are hoping that now that they have been arrested, they can provide us with some information on Mr. Pedersen," Goetz said.

The suspects were driving a white 1999 Plymouth Breeze belonging to 19-year-old Cody Myers of Lafayette, Oregon, who has been missing since October 1.

A body of a young adult male has been found in Oregon, but police would not say if the body is that of Myers. Myers' family has been notified about the remains and the identity will be released following an autopsy, law enforcement officials said.

Lt. Gregg Hastings of the Oregon State Police declined to say where Pedersen and Grigsby were from, but said they "have both served time in Oregon for past convictions" and had been convicted for "crimes of violence and drug offenses."